By Asher Price,
American-Statesman Staff
Over the objections of those concerned about possible overregulation, the Austin City Council passed an ordinance Thursday requiring current and future water well owners to register their wells.
The ordinance is a response to a drought-driven spate of well drilling in the last half-dozen years by homeowners, especially those in affluent neighborhoods, as they try to sidestep high water bills and watering restrictions from Austin Water Utility.
City officials say they worried about the consequences of drilling on the Edwards Aquifer’s lightly regulated northern segment, which stretches from Lady Bird Lake to the Lampasas River in Bell County. But the new rule seeks only to collect information to help assess the impact of the wells on the aquifer.
Texas Water Development Board officials said they were not aware of any other Texas cities that require the registration of private wells.
Daryl Slusher, an assistant director at the utility, told the City Council on Thursday that the new rule “doesn’t have anything to do with limiting or pumping groundwater.”
Current well owners must register their wells within 180 days of the ordinance’s effective date of Oct. 22. The owners of a new water well must register a well within 70 days of its completion.
An American-Statesman investigation in June found that more than 150 new wells had been drilled since 2006 — the number also jumped during droughts in 2006 and 2009 — and nearly all of those wells are in affluent West Austin neighborhoods, such as Pemberton Heights, Tarrytown and Balcones, where many homes have some of the most carefully tended, lush landscapes.
In the 78703 ZIP code — which contains the Pemberton Heights, Tarrytown and Old Enfield neighborhoods — at least 26 wells have been drilled since April, according to an optional online reporting system maintained by the state.
That figure may not give the complete picture, said Lauren Mulverhill, a spokeswoman with the Texas Water Development Board. She said the state has a backlog of 14,000 newly drilled wells registered under an old paper system that have not been entered on state computer databases.
Homeowners are drilling into the Edwards Aquifer’s northern segment, not the better-known — and heavily protected — Barton Springs segment, which begins south of Lady Bird Lake and feeds Austin’s iconic springs.
The Austin Water Utility estimates that nearly 84 new irrigation wells have been drilled this year in its entire water service area. That’s up from 63 new irrigation wells in 2011, 30 in 2010 and 16 in 2009.
David Buttross, owner of Buttross Properties real estate company, said he paid $20,000 to install a well at his home in the Old Enfield neighborhood in 2011 to avoid monthly water bills that rang in at more than $500 per month. He said the new ordinance starts the city down a “slippery slope to the government taking away people’s rights.”
“First, they register wells. Then they meter wells. Then they restrict the amount you can use to 100,000 gallons a month, then to 50,000 a month. That’s all very reasonable — until they start charging you for water flowing through that well,” Buttross said.
The ordinance does keep the door open for fee collection down the line — a second ordinance would have to be passed — but Slusher said the registration fees would not be based on how much water is pumped.
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